I have seen women from our community doing carpool – their vans full of little ones, both theirs and others’ – chatting on cell phones, while making left turns in heavy traffic, head twisted sideways anchoring the phone onto their shoulder. Turning safely requires a driver’s undivided, focused attention. How can they be so reckless when entrusted with such precious cargo?
A few years ago, I crossed a small street going east to west after two cars had gone north up the street. Suddenly, the second car zoomed backwards. All I could do was scream “Stop!” amazingly the driver stopped just in time. Someone at the other corner was white with shock – making me realize how close I had come to being a statistic.
When I am with my grandchildren and feel the mutual joy we have from one another, I shudder at what they would have missed if I was just a face in an old photo instead of being the “playground Bubbie.” How true this must be for every son/daughter/spouse/parent whose life was snuffed out by a careless driver – drivers who have face-to-face conversations with their passengers, instead of looking straight ahead at the road. Where is it written that while driving, it is impolite to simply talk to the person sitting next to you without looking at her or her?
The road may be clear, but if G-d forbid, if a child suddenly darts out onto the road, or there is debris or a broken tree branch that flies into the car’s path, the lack of attention, even if only for a split second, can have tragic consequences. This is true for people who are busy changing radio stations, getting a snack out of a bag, or taking a swig out of a bottle of soda. Can’t you wait till you get to a red light?
And then there are the impaired drivers – unfit to drive because they drank too much, are on drugs (both legal and illegal), are seriously sleep-deprived, have poor eyesight, or who have compromised cognitive abilities due to old age, disease or medication.
They willfully get into a car because they are in denial about their current inability to negotiate a vehicle – a denial fueled by self-centered behavior and often a blatant disregard for anybody else’s well being.
I am sure Hashem has a special place in Gihennom for serial drunk drivers who, despite causing immeasurable injury and grief to their victims, continue to drink and drive without shame or remorse. All this, because of lax laws and sympathetic judges, juries and lawyers who, because they too enjoy their alcoholic drink feel, “There but for the grace of G-d go I.”
It’s rather hypercritical to scream for gun control when diffident, dysfunctional drivers cause so much more slaughter.
We have become numb to the daily massacres that take place on our roads – they have become everyday occurrences – but are outraged over gun deaths since they are not as frequent and thus warrant more focus.
It’s time to make it more difficult for destructive drivers to get behind the wheel over and over again and to prevent human “roadkill.”